I’ve posted several times that I’m pro choice, pro marriage equality, pro legalization of marijuana. I’m a staunch 1st Amendment guy, too. Free speech–even unpopular speech. Yes, I’d allow the Nazis and the Klan to have their marches. Hell, I’d even allow Notre Dame fans to march and otherwise support that vile pit of darkness. I think the GOP tax cuts have gone too far, especially in my state. I support public education, not vouchers for private schools. I think there is room for reductions in the defense budget. And, for whatever it may be worth, I just filed what I honestly believe is the first same sex adoption case in my court district.
I agree with all that. We are the silent majority of Dem voters.
Unfortunately the Purity Progressives want us Bill Clinton/Obama types relegated to the back bench.
Bernie, Liz, AOC, and Omar are the new face of Democrats.
They have a rude awakening coming.
Free advertising from the real Joe Walsh: Vote for Me
That’s a very fair response, and I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions that you see it as a two party race. I mean it is, but I hadn’t considered you would vote for a third party candidate.
Do you live in a state where you expect the outcome is already decided (eg, California or Kansas)? Also, if you do find a candidate you like, do you think you’d campaign for him, or are we just talking about who you will vote for on Election Day?
I can’t think of anyone who matches currently.
What would you consider a working definition of “moderate” if some Democrat magically said “you know what, I’m not really a fan of guns, but it’s pointless to fight it, let’s put our resources elsewhere”? Or maybe more to the point, what would you consider too immoderate?
I think that’s a good pragmatic idea (strategically abandoning the anti-gun crusade), and I am not an original thinker, so someone else is probably thinking of running on it right now.
Since my first attempt apparently didn’t merit a response, I’ll ask again: Why are gun rights your priority over all your other positions? Why do the rights of gay people, more lax drug laws, free speech, fiscal responsibility, public good over private wealth accumulation, and children’s rights all get pushed to the side because of one issue about guns?
I’m a pro-life, fiscally responsible liberal who knows Clinton committed perjury, but those disagreements with the Democrat party line dont even come close to overwhelming my desire to stand up for equality and fairness, to put an end to white nationalism, and to not have subhuman garbage like Trump run my party. This idea that guns outweigh all the other viewpoints is foreign to me. Why put aside so many of your positions for guns?
When the OP says multiple times they have and are considering voting for a dem, this is essentially an accusation of lying. You also have this habit of dropping these one line turds that do nothing other than add snide remarks. Knock it off.
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Purposely misstating a person’s positions in an effort to denigrate them is pretty jerkish. Don’t do that.
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I may lean slightly to the anti-gun side of the fence, but I disagree with this. The problem with voting against “gun grabbers” is NOT that gun grabbing is good; it’s that there are a myriad of much much more important issues.
The U.S. is adding to federal debt at a rate of a trillion dollars per year. Income inequality is as bad as it’s been since the 1920’s and is getting worse. Globalism and automation dictate a fundamental shift in economic paradigms. Evil countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia are gaining strength with U.S. assistance. The Middle East is still a mess. Environmental regulations have been devastated; cancers and other health problems will rise as corporations are increasingly permitted to pollute lakes and streams. Science becomes increasingly important as humanity faces new challenges; yet science is being devastated by U.S. policies. NASA is no longer allowed to publish controversial climate data, but is encouraged to waste money on a Mars boondoggle. Racism is on the rise. U.S. prestige is plummeting and former allies turn to countries like China or even Russia. American healthcare costs continue to rise; education standards continue to fall; young Americans are stifled by debt, in some cases due to government cooperation with fraudulent schools. An opioid epidemic is causing American life expectancy to fall. News media are dominated by lies. Cyber warfare, both hard and soft, will become a big problem. By some measures electoral and political corruption are at all-time highs. Et cetera.
Yet gun control is the issue that determines how many Americans vote? :smack: The hilarity would make me laugh if it weren’t so very very sad.
What makes that voting criterion especially ill-advised is that any significant gun-control is NOT coming any time soon. The political support isn’t there at the national level, and there are far more important issues that will require more urgent attention.
And …
… the idea that guns will suddenly be restricted under even an anti-gun President is just a right-wing boogeyman anyway.
HTH.
Yes, I feel for those “law-abiding” gun owners.
It’s a pity all those gun owners had boating accidents at the beginning of his administration.
It’s almost as if the magic barrier that stops people from just bringing in bags of guns from places where they don’t have those laws in place aren’t working properly.
See also: murder, rape, armed robbery, etc.
I might suggest that your views on guns are rather extreme and no Democrat will ever match them and dare I say extremely few Republicans would either. So perhaps you should consider whether that one issue trumps all others and that you’re willing to sacrifice all other issues on the altar of guns.
Have you ever tried the I Side With Quiz?
For me, oddly enough my preferred candidate, Joe Biden, was the bottom of my Democratic list with Warren at the top. DJT was at the bottom.
Thanks for posting that link. I always forget about it. I’m in a similar position to Oak in that I don’t agree with any of the democratic front runners and won’t vote for Trump. I’ve resigned myself to voting for Cory Gardener to keep republican control of the senate if I have to vote for Warren.
I took the quiz with a bunch of the ask more questions options and was surprised to see Democrats as my top 4 matches (in order Klobuchar, Booker, Yang and Castro). What I thought was fascinating was the next three were Weld (R), Warren (D) and Johnson (L) which I guess shows that I’m in a weird part of the political spectrum. Trump was last on the list. Hopefully, at least one of those top four dems is still in the race for Colorado caucus and I have a reason to do some deeper research on them.
I got a very strong match with Marianne Williamson on that quiz. Something is clearly broken. I responded that vaccinating kids is very important to me, plus I’m totally cool with drone attacks on terrorists. I can’t imagine two issues that we could be further apart on.
I’m not “putting aside” my other positions. Those things are still important to me, and I suspect a candidate that matches my views on guns will also likely have reasonably acceptable positions on the other issues.
I tend to be strongly small (l) libertarian in most things. I don’t think the state should tell me what I can own, ingest/consume, say, think, or do so long as I do not violate the rights of others in so doing.
I guess I could say it’s all OUR fault. This comes with one stipulation, YOU are voting for the Dem anyway, regardless who it is. Proposing a more moderate form of D, garners voters like him (and me) to vote for the D so yes, it is on YOU and those of you who staunchly support the Democrats to find an electable candidate.
I don’t really understand why you guys who rail against third party voters because they just couldn’t stomach voting for the hard left or Trump …
If 2 and 3 are all absolute litmus tests for you then likely no.
Odds are you will have to make a choice (and inaction is a choice as much as any action is).
Of course the reality is that SCOTUS rulings and current SCOTUS composition make significant movement on any “gun ban” unlikely but yup there is no D with a chance to win who will not state support for what the vast majority of the public, inclusive of gun owners and Republicans, consider common sense gun regulation. It would be foolish of them to do so. Many many more of those voters than you - in the general electorate let alone among D primary voters.
So you will be dealing with enabling (by action or inaction) what is within the art of the possible. Possibly (has to get by the Senate) some modest movement on gun registration and licensing as a compromise for a president who is otherwise not batshit insane, corrupt, a harm to American interests and friend to Russia’s, and a danger to the planet perhaps even existentially … or facilitating (actively or passively) all of the latter.
I see how that is a tough call …
Yet, even taken together, those positions are not enough to get you to support any politician who wants reasonable gun control. Why is that? And what, if anything, would this administration and its enablers have to do to outweigh your hatred of gun control?
Your support isn’t really needed for any of them. Feel free to sit out the nominating process.
Just hold your nose and vote D exclusively until the R party no longer exists. It’s the right thing to do (which is why I prescribe this course of action for every voter in the country).
Actual Democrats ought to participate in the nominations, of course.
Because the elimination of the Republican Party has emerged as the most existentially critical task that America has.
I made sure I filled out all the questions, although on a fair number I went with more nuanced answers. I ended up with most of the Democratic field in a tight cluster at the top (Klobuchar, Booker and Buttigieg were listed first but most were within about five percentage points and all within 10). Biden was the furthest Democrat out at about 81%. So clearly on the issues that are weightiest to me, the Democrats are all pretty much of a muchness.
Gary Johnson managed to land in the mid-60s for me, and unsurprisingly Trump was at the bottom of the list at 31%. So it looks like Any Democrat (including - barf - Williamson) will do for me according to that quiz.